<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 4/13/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">The Avantguardian</b> <<a href="mailto:avantguardian2020@yahoo.com">avantguardian2020@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
But what would be its motive? A 12,000 IQ being should<br>be more rational than us and not less so. Perhaps even<br>super-rational in the iterated prisoners' dilemma<br>sense. So what would it possibly gain by turning it's
<br>parents/creators into plasma or goo?</blockquote><div><br>I agree that the super-intelligent being will not automatically be motivated to destroy us, but I dispute that this has anything to do with being rational. Reason is a means used to achieve goals, but in the final analysis the goals themselves are neither rational nor irrational; they just are. All else being equal, a more intelligent person might be
better able to enforce kindness or cruelty than a less intelligent one,
but intelligence is no indicator as to whether the person will be kind
or cruel. Moreover, the likelihood that reason will be used in making decisions does not necessarily have anything to do with level of intelligence. People sometimes do reckless, irresponsible or (to use the word in its popular, but strictly incorrect sense) irrational things while being fully cognisant of the consequences.
<br><br>Stathis Papaioannou<br><br><br> </div></div><br>